The Warriors
by I. Rhoads
Summary: The story of a boy that came from a violent past, what will happen when he meets Yuna and her guardians? Please Read and Review.
1. The Deathsquad

The Warriors

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX, and most likely never will.

This will take a while to turn into FFX, so please bear with me, and leave me a comment on whether or not you like it.

The four of us sat around the fire, watching the flame rise and disappear. We knew what we had to do tomorrow; we had the mission in our hands. Rhoads was the first one to read it.

_To the members of The Deathsquad section,_

_On the eve of March, you are to complete your first mission. On the border of your territory, to the west are the Requimesos, you will attack them and bring back one of their religious emblems, The Golden Staff. They have received news of your attack and will prepare a defense to halt you. Upon completion of this mission a member of the Knight's Court will pick up the emblem and reward you all with bows to attack from afar. Failure will not be tolerate; if you fail you lose all protection from the cold._

_Your king and merciful leader,_

_Jordash_

"So, I guess that means we had better win," I announced, gaining the three others attention. I stood up and grabbed my sword from the scabbard on my back, and pulled it out swiftly, slashing the air. "We must sleep well tonight."

"No shit," was the remark that Darrell let escape. "Well, it's us four against what, 700, 750 others all ready for us?"

"784," Rhoads said, "but we don't have to worry, we are much better warriors, and will crush them." He rose from the ruined log that we used as a makeshift bench. He walked to the end of the small cabin we shared and grabbed the blanket from his bed. "I am not going to lose this, I'm not going to go easy on them, but this should be an easy win."

"He is somewhat right Darrell," Stephen said, leaning back to put his head on the wall, "they have inadequate training, worn leather armor, ruined staves, and not the will to fight to the death. We have endured extreme training for years, we have weapons we hand chose, we have the best armor out of all the Sections, and we have stared death in the eyes enough times to shirk it off. They will see their obvious disadvantages and retreat." His speech gained all of our attentions, although I agreed with him fully I knew there would be some argument.

"They will not retreat; they will see their massive numerical advantage and use it!" Darrell yelled, obviously nervous about tomorrow.

"Oh, but they will not," I said, "They will see that they would rather retreat and have to try harder to survive than to rush into us and die. You're forgetting they haven't actually seen anyone get killed; it will have a profound effect on them. We are used to death and don't fear it as they will, there is no better way to break your morale than to see your friend die.

"Are you sure Ian?" Darrell asked me, with a frightened look.

"Yes, they have but one elite, and you are a better warrior than him," I said, reassuring him of his skill. "Arcsam is his name, he will be leading the battle, I have no doubt he will be the only difficulty we shall run into, and I will deal with him myself. Don't worry about the battle, I have no doubt it will not be difficult, just do what I tell you. Ok?" He assured his confidence with a head nod. "Ok, tomorrow we will attack, and we will win," I put emphasis on the will; all of us knew we would win, and we would be rewarded. "But for now we must rest up, tomorrow we will show that we are going to win."

Stephen and I were the first awake, we went outside to scan the environment. "It will snow," I said, "Look at those clouds, I'm guessing it will be here in a few minutes."

"Good, I prefer fighting in the snow," Stephen stated, "This will give us an even greater advantage, ha, this will be over quickly."

"Don't be cocky, remember they have one of the elites, they will no doubt be formed into some sort of an army, they will have a plan, but I don't know what.

"Have you any idea?" Stephen asked.

"Well, a flank comes to mind, especially if Arcsam isn't leading the main force, and if he is they might retreat to the Temple that The Golden Staff is in. But neither of these will work against a much smaller force, we'd be in the middle of the battle by the time the flank comes in, and we force them out of the Temple."

"Ah, you were right," he looked up and saw the snow falling, heavily, the wind picked up greatly to match. "Well, this will make the battle quicker, cold and fear doesn't mix well."

"Yes, they will crumble like burnt paper."

A few hours later Rhoads and Darrell emerged from the cabin, clad in their armor, Rhoads broke the silence.

"So how much longer till we get things rolling?" he asked impatiently. I assured him we would be leaving soon; I just had to put on my armor. I walked into the cabin, and started putting on the black chainmail we had been issued. I finished by latching on the shoulder guards and placing my sword in my belt and putting my small knife in the opening on the small of my back. I looked in the mirror, and noticed the difference between now and when I was taken from my home and put into the king's "service". I was taller, and stronger, I had long straight black hair down to my back, my face pale, and fierce looking. I sighed, remembering my childhood, but quickly returned to the present. I repeated the last thing I had heard from my father before I was abducted by the king's royal guard, "Life come at great cost", he was right, I lost three years of my life, to train for now, but by doing so I know I will live through this game, King Jordash is playing god, pitting us against each other. Stephen and I made a pact, the day we were free, and all the thousands of others were dead, we'd kill Jordash, to make up for those that died for his pleasure.

That's the end of part 1 please tell me if I can improve it, and please review my story.


	2. The Fight in the Snow

The Warriors

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX, and most likely never will.

This will take a while to turn into FFX, so please bear with me, and leave me a comment on whether or not you like it.

We reached the edge of our border and saw the steep decline that led to the Requimesos' territory. We ran down quickly and reached a mount that led to the enemy's encampment. On the top of the mountain we saw what appeared to be the Requimesos' defense.

"Hah, pitiful." Darrell laughed, "There are but a hundred boys down there." He was right, they were all covered in snow or white blankets, believing they were hidden from us. Where the other six hundred were, I didn't know.

"All right, Rhoads and Darrell take the left, Steve, you take the right, and I am going straight down the middle. Be on the lookout for the rest of the army, for that is but a small fraction of them." I got grunts of acknowledgement from my men, then I yelled, "Charge!"

We were down the hill in a few second, taking the enemy by surprise. I threw my sword to the left, splintering one of the enemy's staves, sending shards of wood into his eye. I turned to the right, smashing my sword into someone's skull. The blood from his head squirted on a group of soldiers, stopping them in their tracks. They looked scared, they were scared, I pulled my blade out of his skull and turned to them, dropping the bloody blade into the snow. The men returned to their charge, but it was foiled quickly, as I hacked off the arm of one of them. He screamed in agony, and the army turned around and fled. The boy fell to the ground, crying, I reached for him, noticing his golden clothing turning blood red. I pulled him to a dip in the ground, where I dropped him. "Would you rather," I began, "Die now, the warriors death, or to live in shame?"

"I want to live," he managed to scream between cries of pain, "I don't care about shame." It was the wrong answer, I left him in the dip, where in a matter of minutes he would be covered in snow, and he would freeze to death.

"Ok!" I yelled to my comrades, "Let's get the emblem and get out of here!" We ran to the temple that housed The Golden Staff, but I stopped my party before we got to close. "Wait," I yelled, "They are in there, they are going to try to keep us out, but we will break through!" We rallied to the front entrance, seeing the emblem that we needed in clear sight, about 100 yards dead ahead. We slowly walked toward the temple, weapons drawn, being observant, to avoid any traps or ambushes. We were 250 feet away, we saw them. We were 200 feet away, they left and made a line in front of the entrance. We were 150 feet away, they had their weapons drawn and were ready for a charge. We were 100 feet away, they were shivering in the cold. We were 75 feet away, they were unorganized, and faltering. We were 50 feet away, they are scared, they know it's over. 50 feet, 40 feet, 30 feet, 20 feet, 10 feet away, they let out a cry of fear. 5 feet away, we charged, they scattered, they are cowards. We ran in, pushing those in the way to the side, then we saw him. Standing directly in front of The Golden Staff was Arcsam, his sword was drawn and pointed at me.

I took this as a challenge, and I was never one to back down from challenges. I rushed in, swung my sword, he blocked, he flipped his sword, knocking my blade up, but this was to my avail. He swung, and I leaned back, he missed, and I brought my sword down, cutting the inside of his arm, making him drop his sword. I pushed him aside with the blunt side of my sword and took the staff. I turned around, and left the temple, my team walked with me to the cabin where we were met by a man wearing the royal seal as a brooch, he served King Jordash.

"Good job," he said snidely, "and these are from the king, a reward in exchange for the staff." He handed each of us an intricate bow, obviously very powerful. He then handed us a quiver, packed with arrows, the tip was the seal of Jordash, resembling a J coming to a point at the bottom. I examined it, pulling the string as far back as I could. "And this," he said turning to me, "Is for you Ian." He handed me a paper which I read out loud.

_To the members of The Deathsquad section,_

_You did a good job capturing the emblem, and It hank you for it. Here is your next mission. On the opposite end of you territory are the Reds, a larger section than the Requimesos. This mission is to capture one of their troops without them knowing, and then to use him to find any sort of weakness in the territories defenses. Upon completion of this mission you will each be awarded a sword, of your choice. If you fail to capture a troop then your bows will be taken back. If they realize he is gone before you have the information they will attack you. Don't fail._

_Your king and merciful leader,_

_Jordash_

"So, I guess we have something to do," and after that the man left, "Well let's get this done as fast as possible." We left immediately for the Red's territory, looking for some sentries on duty, to far away from the base. We waited for an hour, until one of the sentries came within 20 feet of us to relieve himself. We inched closer, and when he was done Rhoads pounced, and ran him back to the base.

"What do you want?" he asked loudly.

"Do you want to have children?" I asked.

"What?"

"Just answer the question," Darrell said.

"Yeah, of course," he said, "but why?"

"Well," I said, putting my knife on the table next to him, "You can tell us all about the defenses around your base, or you'll never be having children." He spilt his guts. We learned about a tripwire system around the bases, linking it to a series of bells that act as an alarm. "Thank you, that wasn't so hard, was it?" He gave me a furious look.

The same man that had given us the mission had returned, but this time with a covered wagon. "Your reward," he said, pointing at the wagon. Steve took the top off the wagon, and revealed at least a thousand swords, of different sizes, styles, and models. "All of you are to take one," he said sternly. I made my decision quickly, pulling out a sharp curved blade, and finding its scabbard. I spun the sword a few times, and was very satisfied with its blade. He handed me a paper, but this was much less generic than the rest I had received.

_To Ian, Stephen, Rhoads, and Darrell,_

_You have done well once again, and have surpassed my expectations, but from now on the missions will be difficult. But the rewards will be greater than you could imagine. Failure will be punished more harshly than it had been in the past. You will receive your first official mission in one week. _

_Your king and merciful leader,_

_Jordash_

We all new, that our lives would be bloody, 10,000 thirteen and fourteen years olds, forced to fight to the death. We are being forced into this to young, my section decided that we would kill Jordash when this was all over. But until then, we will have each other's backs.

Well that's the end of Chapter 2, I'll be turning this to FFX in a few chapters, so if you

are reading this, please be patient. Please review this and tell me if you have any suggestions for making this better.


	3. Returning Home

The Warriors

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX, and most likely never will.

This will take a while to turn into FFX, so please bear with me, and leave me a comment on whether or not you like it.

After two years of violent battles the Deathsquad is feared by everyone. Of the 6,300 fatalities do far, the four of us were responsible for 4,800. Of the 10 Sections only 6 remained, us the Deathsquad, the Darringers, Denfeld, The Great Ones, The Torks, and Baring's Killers. My Section remained the same, four of us, against the world, we were constantly under attack, but always beat back the enemy with no casualties on our side.

We were changed by the battles though, everyone that was alive was a good warrior. Now everyone was used to seeing their friends die, and were relatively unaffected by it. We are different now, or at least I was, my hair, straight and black, went down past my knees, my face, ghostly white, and my body was massive, bulging with muscles. Through out faithful service to our king over the past years we were awarded with magic swords, massive plate armor, and all sorts of different, powerful weapons. We new the end was coming soon, the attacks had stopped, the missions hadn't come in months.

"They are preparing a joint attack," Stephen began, "if they can kill us then they will be able to squabble amongst themselves without our attacking."

"How do you know?" Darrell asked, dumbfounded by this seemingly incredulous idea.

"Because," I interrupted, "They are, look at it, they go from two attacks a week to none in three months, they are planning something."

"He's right," Rhoads said, "it's to risky, and it's very likely, we should prepare."

"Well, let's start!" I announced. We started building a defense system like the Reds had, making the alarm go off in the cabin. Then we made large holes filled with spikes, and covered with leaves all around our border. We had all sorts of deadly traps all over, and as they got closer to the cabin the more deadly they became. We were going to stop them by any means possible.

Weeks of preparing finally led to the moment of truth. We were surrounded by at least 3,500 troops. "Well, I guess this is it," Stephen said, "Everyone here is going to die today." We were all silent, waiting for them to advance into the death zone as we called it.

"Hey, after this is all over, were gunna kill the rest of them, then be done forever," Darrell said hopefully, "then well kill Jordash and well be heroes."

"Yeah," I sighed, "We'll kill 'em all. But first they have to charge, and god know when that'll happen."

The silence was the worst part, just waiting to be attacked by 3000 men. It was dark out, and it was hot and humid, but we had water and food, and medical supplies, we are going to win this one.

We had silent conversation, talking about what we'd do after the battle, but never talking about the battle itself. It finally collapsed on itself when they got louder. They began their advance.

"Get ready," I yelled, "Take them head on."

They ran blind through our killing field, falling into the pits, getting gored by blades hanging from trees, crushed by two tree smashing into each other. They finally reached us, I swung my sword into the face of a huge man holding an axe, splitting it down the middle. I ripped my sword from his face to another man. I drew an axe from my other hand, and I just swung blindly with the ax, and attacked with finesse with my sword. 10 down, 25 down, the bodies were falling, the blood was flying through the air, I was drenched in the blood and sweat from dead men. I put my sword through the stomach of one man into the heart of another.

The ruthless killing went on until I was confronted by two elites, Arcsam and Baring himself. I was fighting them both off as well as soldiers from behind spinning my blade so fast it cut off part of Baring's sword. I jumped back and threw my axe at the unsuspecting Arcsam, cleaving his head in two. I pulled another sword, and was fighting just Baring. It was over soon, he was tired, and I overpowered him, chopping off his head, demoralizing his unit. The battle was over, the remainder of the forces ran, but the four of us drew our bows and sniped them down. By the end of the battle, 3,200 men were dead.

Over the next week we killed the rest of them, it was over, by the time we were 15, 4 young men have killed 8,500 men. We were met by the king's entire royal guard, and we were sent through the streets of this city we had never seen before, and we met the king.

"Bow," his men said, "bow to your king." We four bowed, to show our humility, the king was a small man, and he was obviously obsessed with death and pain.

"So, you are the ones that killed all those men?" he asked, we nodded yes, "Wonderful. Well I guess I will send you home." We all stood and cheered, but were stopped by the guards, who yelled to bow, "but if you don't bow until I tell you to leave, you are in for hell."

We remained bowed until we were sent away.

We were taken home, back to Spira, me and Steve to Kilika, and Rhoads and Darrell to Bevelle. We said our goodbyes and promised to meet up again in the near future.

I went to the beach, and looked out to shore, an I saw my reflection in the water, I changed. From the innocent little boy of 10, to the 15 year old that has killed thousands. Steve noticed it to, but as soon as we came to peace with ourselves we saw a massive wave come in. Then it all came back, Sin, the summoners, and the Maesters of Bevelle. As I was hit with the wave, I saw my old self, he smiled at me, then disappeared.

There, I told you I'd get back to FFX, well please tell me what you though of this


	4. Yuna and Her Guardians

The Warriors

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX, and most likely never will.

Finally, now it's an FFX story

The water was pushing me backwards, by the time it overcame me I was already ten off the beach. I looked back, to see my home being overcome with water, and many others. The violent waters got me disoriented, and the broken pieces of wooden homes smashed into me, making it harder still. I smashed into a tall tree, which finally stopped me from being pushed.

The water finally died down, and I fell down from the tree to my knees on the ground below. I quickly got up, and surveyed the area for damage, noticing everything that was within a hundred feet of the beach was ruined. I saw several corpses, dead either from drowning, or being crushed by the shear force of the water.

"Ian!" I heard, I looked to see who yelled that, seeing Stephen under a bunch of wood tiles. He got up from the ground and brushed himself off, then began walking over. "What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea," I admitted, "there are no clouds, so it wasn't a storm, I am stumped. Hey, we should look for people." He nodded, and we went looking under debris, and found nothing but scared children and dead bodies. "Wait, what is that?" I asked pointing out to the sea, noticing a vague image of a ship. We both squinted, but couldn't make out the image well.

"I don't know man," he said, "maybe some debris. We should go to the temple here, we have sinned a great deal, we must go and explain ourselves to the priests, and beg for forgiveness."

I laughed at that, "If there was a god, he wouldn't have let such an event take place." Stephen was always faithful to Yevon, but I had lost faith in the religion after my mother was killed.

"Maybe, but I still believe in finding repent," he said, "and I will get it, so I'm going, are you going to come?"

"Sure."

"Ok let's go," he said, starting to walk toward the temple. We began walking up the path, and then I saw it, and I instinctively stopped. I ran into the small hut looking around, for her.

"Grandma, Grandma!" I yelled, frantically searching for her, "Where are you!" I found nothing, but a little girl, crying in a corner, "Is there an old woman here?" She didn't answer, just looked at me afraid, "Answer me!" I screamed at her, making her cry even more.

"Get away from her," an older man yelled, running into the hut with a sword drawn, "Get away from my daughter!" He ran between me and her with his sword at my throat. I grabbed his sword by its blade and threw it through the opening of the hut, it impaling a tree about twenty feet away.

"Where is my grandmother?" I asked loudly, grabbing the man by his shirt, picking him off the ground with one arm.

"What are you talking about, we have lived here for four years." He said, puzzled and afraid, "Wait, are you Ian?" he asked, with an amazed look on his face.

"Yes, I am."

"Oh," he said, his facial expression changing to a sad one, "well, three years ago, your grandmother…"

"What, what?" I asked furiously.

"She," he took a long pause, and then he crushed me,"died." At that I let him down, and I dropped to the ground. I felt overwhelmed, the person that loved me at home was dead. But I couldn't cry, I just sat there, trying to process the news. After a while I got up, and I turned to the man and his daughter.

"I'm sorry for intruding and yelling at you," I said sadly, then I turned around and left. I went outside to Steve who was worried about me, and I told him I would need some time and that I would meet him later. He nodded an acknowledgement and left. I walked around aimlessly, feeling sick to my stomach. I fell asleep after some time, wishing escape, or for this all to be a dream. I lost track of time, just sitting under a tree, thinking, after I noticed a group of people surrounding me I left for the forest.

The Crusaders stood in front of the direct path to the temple. "Stop" one of them said to me, I didn't listen and continued forward, despite them all yelling at me. After turning a corner I saw why they wanted me to stop, a massive fiend, was fighting a group of five, four being human, the other a small Ronso. I ran up after I noticed they were having major problems. I was a few feet behind them and I threw a knife at the fiend, nailing it in the eye. All of them turned at me to look, but I didn't get a good look back at them. I ran up to the fiend, drew a sword and in one swift move I jumped up and cut off one of its tentacle arms. It screamed in pain, and attacked me, I ducked beneath its tentacles, and jumped up on its head. As it tried to attack me furiously I thrust my sword into its head, then sent a fireball from the end of my blade into its head. The fiend erupted into pyreflies and I fell to the ground, sheathing my sword quickly.

"That was amazing," I heard, I turned around and saw the one who said that, a blonde boy, older than me, "What's your name?"

"My name," I began, "is Ian." They began murmuring amongst themselves for a while about me. "Are you headed to the temple?" I asked, silencing them all. A girl of about 17 stepped forward.

"Yes," she said, "we are." Before she could say more I interrupted her.

"Well, I too am headed there, I shall escort you there." At that I turned and began walking toward the temple with them closely behind. The girl was trying to talk to me.

"My name is Yuna," she said, expecting me to say something back. We continued walking, to a structure with stairs at the base. I walked up first then stopped at a landing. I heard the blonde boy challenge some of the others accompanying them to a race, which Yuna took the liberty of starting. As I stood looking out at the forest I heard a scream from the top of the stairwell. I ran up to find a Sinspawn attacking Yuna.

As one of its tentacles thrust at Yuna I ran forward, and stopped the attack with my bare hands. Then I pulled hard at it, ripping it from the ground, making an eruption of green ooze from the hole in the ground it was in. The head of the Sinspawn then arose, letting lose a green miasma, stopping the rest of Yuna's party, but not me. I ran through the mist, grabbing a hold of the mouth of the Sinspawn. One hand on the top, the other on the bottom I ripped the top of its head off, and then smashed it into the bottom. The remaining tentacle fell to the ground, then the Sinspawn disappeared, releasing pyreflies.

"Whoa, bruddha," a man with orange hair exclaimed, "How'd you do that?"

"Dunno," I lied, "adrenaline I guess. Well we should continue." After that I walked to the temple behind the rest of them. We abruptly stopped, apparently by Kilika's blitzball team. After they imitated the group I was walking with, that was apparently the Besaid blitzball team I became aggravated. I walked up, and past two men, they leaned against each other, hoping to stop me, but I pushed through them, knocking one over.

"Where do you think you are going?" one of them asked. I ignored him and continued walking, and I felt someone's hand on my back. I turned around to see a fist coming at me. I grabbed the hand in mid air in my palm, pulling it forward, sending the man into my knee. As he fell to the ground the rest of the team came at me, as I punched one in the face, knocking him off his feet Yuna yelled, "Stop this!" We all stopped, and Kilika's blitzball team left in shame.

I continued to walk up to the temple, and I opened the doors to let Yuna and her friends in. I followed them in and let the door close behind me, looking around I quickly saw Steven talking to a priest, deep in conversation. I walked up to him, and saw the priest horrified look.

"I've killed many, but, if I didn't I myself would have died, can I be forgiven?" He asked, probably not ready for the answer.

"Well," the priest began reluctantly, "If you would have been killed if you didn't than it is forgivable." That brought a great sigh of relief. "But you must truly wish for forgiveness."

"Oh I do."

"Steve," I interrupted, "Sorry I am late. I was deep in thought."

"Right," he said, "do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Ok, but if you want to, know that I will be here to listen."

"Ok"

"Ian," Yuna said, she apparently worked her way over, "I am going into the Cloister, and I wish to thanks you."

"Oh, yeah, no problem," I said, "oh this is my friend Stephen."

"How are you?" Yuna asked, "I am Yuna."

"I am good," Steve replied, "Who are your friends?" he asked looking at the four standing behind her.

"Well these are my guardians," she said, "this is Lulu," she pointed at a young attractive woman, clad in black gothic attire, with red eyes, "this is Wakka," the man with orange hair, he smiled, "this is Kimahri," she said pointing at the Ronso, about 6 and a half feet tall, "and this is Tidus," she said pointing at the blonde boy. Being friendlier than myself he introduced himself to them, and then as if psychically knowing I hadn't told them my name he introduced me.

"Well I am going into the Cloister, but I will speak to you later," Yuna said, then turned around and left to the Cloister of Trials.

"She seemed nice," Steve said.

"Yeah, I guess," was my response.

"Wait, what's happening over there?" Steve asked, pointing at the entrance to the Cloister. I turned to see a big guy throwing Tidus into the elevator that leads to the actual Cloister.

After an hour or so, Yuna and her guardians emerged. I walked over to her, "Yuna, are you by any chance headed towards Bevelle?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, "why?

"Well Stephen and I are going to meet some friends there, but don't know the way there," I began, "so we were wondering if we could accompany you, while you went to Bevelle."

"Well, of course," she said, "that would be great."

"Wonderful!" I said, turning to Stephen, "To Bevelle."

Well that's the end of Chapter 4, please review this.


	5. Luca

The Warriors

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX, and most likely never will.

Please review, If you have any suggestions please tell me, I would like to know how to improve my next chapters.

As we got on the ship I turned to look at the island. It was beautiful, the sun reflected off the water, making the shoreline glisten orange and red. But now we must depart, I thought as the ship started moving. I turned around to see Stephen talking to Wakka and Lulu. After realizing that the sun was setting I walked up to the top deck, staring into the distance, knowing somehow that Yuna would need me somehow.

"Are you alright?" I heard from behind, recognizing the kind voice as Yuna.

"I am," I said, dropping my head, "it's just, well, I'm not sure." She looked puzzled, "I finally got home and the only person left for me…" I stopped myself, not knowing whether or not I could trust Yuna.

"What?" She asked, expecting an answer.

I sighed, "Nothing," was my answer.

"Oh," she said, not knowing what else to say, "Well if you want to tell me, you can."

"Ok"

"Um, I have a question," she began, seeming very curious, "and it's okay if you don't want to answer."

"Shoot."

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but," she stopped, obviously nervous, "you seem to be much quieter than Stephen, are you always like this?"

"Yeah, don't take it the wrong way though," I explained, "I don't talk a lot, and I only talk to people that I trust."

"Well, I hope that you can trust me," she said, wanting to know me better.

"So do I, but I guess I should because we are going to be traveling together."

"Ok, well then I guess we should get to know each other," she said happily, "Well, um, how old are you?"

"15, you?"

"15? That's impossible," she said, thinking I was lying," but you're so tall, and big."

"I know," I said honestly, "but it is the truth"

"But, you look so much older," she said, "are you sure?"

I turned to face her, "I never lie. The reason I am the way I am is because I was forced to change, I was forced to do things most people never have, and never will have to do." She looked scared, but she seemed curious.

"What have you done?" she asked, but I wasn't ready to tell her, I told her I'd tell her later and walked down the stairs, knowing she wanted to ask so much, but wasn't ready to hear the rest.

The rest of the night I kept to myself, sitting at the back of the ship, watching the moon reflect of the sea. I sat on the railing hanging my feet over the edge for an hour or so before Stephen decided to check on me. As he drew near I swung my sword at him, to test his reflexes, not knowing many others were watching. He didn't block in time, and I stopped the blade a few centimeters from his neck. I turned around to see a bunch of people that looked shocked at my action.

"You are rusty," I said, turning to him, sheathing my sword, "what gives?"

"I wasn't expecting that," he admitted, "why are you always doing that?"

"Because," I said, "one day someone will try that, and if you aren't ready, you won't survive." My words got some unwanted looks from the group, "But, is there anything you wanted?"

"Dinner is being served," a young girl said, "will you be joining us?"

"No"

"Ok, well if you change your mind, there will be food," she said, and then left with everyone except Stephen.

"Man, why aren't you being social?" he asked, "You should be more friendly, we should have Yuna and her friends like us."

"I talked to her for a bit, but the conversation turned sour quickly."

"What did you say?" he asked.

"What do you think?"

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well did, you say anything?"

"No," I began, "It'd be difficult to explain to her, besides, she seemed scared of me when I told her how old I was."

"Well of course, you could easily pass for twenty, everyone that's fifteen is just starting to get muscles, has a squeaky voice, and are more nervous around girls," he said, "well, did you say anything else?"

"No."

"Did you talk like you always do?"

"Yeah."

"That's your problem man, you have to be less vague, people don't like that."

"So."

"Well, I don't care how you talk, but we should get them to like us at least," he said, "or at least you, they like me, and think you're weird, but they are all very interested in you, especially Tidus and Yuna."

"So I have to conform so they'll like me?" I asked, trying to get him to see my point.

"Yeah."

"Whatever, go get food, I'll be here."

"See ya man," Steve said as he walked off.

I stayed put most of the night, taking account of Tidus' blitzball move, and him and Yuna talking. I also heard Wakka and Lulu talking about Wakka's little brother Chappu, and how he looked like Tidus. I didn't find any of the conversations interesting, but decided to listen anyway. As the day ended, the deck cleared, and I decide maybe it was time to go to bed.

I awoke late the next day, and I walked to the deck to see the massive city Luca, and all of its inhabitants. We landed finally and departed, I followed Yuna around, deciding she knew this place best. We stopped at a large group, and saw a Grand Maester Mika, and then another man, resembling a Guado, blue hair, odd tattoos. Wakka told me that it was Maester Seymour, half Guado, half human. He watched him, he radiated this ominous feeling, and he turned to face me, stared me in the eyes, and we exchanged threatening look.

"Bow your head," Wakka said to Tidus, "you to Ian." I did so, grudgingly though; I guess bowing my head reminded me of bowing to Jordash, being forced into conformity. I didn't listen to what the Maester had to say, not actually caring about his words. After he said something about unity between the Guado and the rest of Spira we left to go to the stadium.

When we reached the stadium Tidus and Wakka conversed briefly of the rules of blitzball, making sure their new secret weapon was ready. We heard word of Sir Auron being near, and Tidus decided to exit the stadium and attempt to find him. Yuna left with him, along with Lulu and Kimahri. I decided to follow, and try to be somewhat sociable.

After a long walk we arrived in the cafe Auron was supposedly in, after scanning the room I noticed he was nowhere to be seen. However some Ronso were there, apparently they were friends of Kimahri. After a deal of taunting Tidus convinced Kimahri not to take their shit, and he punched one of the two giant Ronso, knocking him to the ground, then exchanged fist with the other.

In the heat of the fight Lulu noticed, "Wait!" she yelled, "where is Yuna?" We all looked around, not seeing her anywhere. I ran out of the cafe, looking for any sign of her, but saw nothing. I asked several passerby if they saw her, and I compiled that she was abducted by the Al Bhed.


	6. Rescue

The Warriors

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX, and most likely never will.

Please review, If you have any suggestions please tell me, I would like to know how to improve my next chapters.

We ran down the docks of Luca, beating the machina and Al Bhed goons in our way. As we neared the Al Bhed their ship began to depart from the bay. We just managed to get on the ship before it got out of our reach. As we scoured the deck for any trace of Yuna we were met by the onslaught of a giant machina. It fired at us, not bullets, but blitzballs, very fast and very hard. It turned its sights on me and I heard the creaking of the machine.

"Watch out!" Tidus screams to me as part of the machina starts to revolve. As the first blitzball is fired at me I instinctively rip my sword out of the scabbard and block. After the onslaught of blitzballs I rush the giant machina and slash my sword at its chest. As I make contact my sword bounces off doing almost no damage, leaving just a dent. As we realize we cannot do a lot of physical damage alone we notice a large crane by our sides. Tidus runs over to it, obviously making the connection that it could do serious damage to the heavily armored machina. "It's out of power!" he yells back at us.

"Let me handle this," Lulu said as she walked over to the crane, "it just needs a little fuel." She holds up her hand and a bolt of lightning strikes the crane, making the engine stutter, but not quite start.

"Lulu," I call gaining her attention, "Kimahri and I will take care of the machina, you just get that crane working." She nods in acknowledgment, and begins casting more thunder spells. As the machina turns to face Lulu and Tidus I leap on top of it, trying to stop the blitzball shot. As the top begins to rotate I force my sword into it, stopping it dead. I jump back down to the ground, and turn around to face it again, but apparently I don't need to. I hear the engine turn over and see the crane lift the machina up by its chest, then fall broken to the ground.

Yuna emerges from the ship soon afterwards, and converses briefly with Lulu. "Did you hurt them?' Lulu asked.

"Maybe a little," Yuna responded jokingly. After that Lulu turned to look at Luca, which was now rather far away, turned her hand upwards and sent some sort of firework up.

As we got back to Luca we saw people running through the streets cheering. When we arrived at the stadium we saw the scoreboard, Besaid has just beaten the Al Bhed Psyches, their first victory in ten years. There was pandemonium in the stadium, ravenous cheering, furious booing, and chants for the next match to begin. The Aurochs locker room was dead silent, Wakka was laying on a bench in the center, looking as if in pain. After exchanging some words with his team he announced that he wasnt going to be playing in the finals, that Tidus would be replacing him.

As the Aurochs lined up for the blitzoff with the Luca Goers, tension seemed high, it looked as if there might be a brawl before the game even started, but it calmed down, just long enough for the Auroches to get the ball. I didn't watch that intently, a pass here, a pass there, Yuna was explaining rules to Steve, who seemed interested. I drifted off into though, remembering the hell we suffered. I saw the blood, the broken bones, and the mangled bodies of our enemies. I was bumped into reality when Steve elbowed me and pointed out Tidus about to shoot. The ball bounced off one Goer, than another, then into the goal, the crowd screamed, the majority in disbelief, but some cheered for the Aurochs. The match was intense, and 30 second left in the second half, tied 2-2, Besaid Aurochs' Letty had the ball. He passes forward to Tidus, Tidus dodges a tackle, breaks another. 20 seconds, Tidus throws back to Letty, 15 seconds, Letty throws to Tidus. 10 seconds Tidus dribbles and breaks a tackle. 5 seconds, Tidus shoots, 4 seconds the ball soars past one defender, 3 seconds the balls nears the goal, 2 seconds, the Goer's goalie prepares, 1 second the ball bounces off his hand into the corner, an Auroch goal. Time's up, Aurochs 3- Goers 2, the crowd went wild, confetti fell, banners flew. But this wouldnt last very long.

It suddenly got darker, and when I turned to see the sun, I saw it, a barrage of fiends is attacking. As I looked around our immediate surroundings I saw dozens of fiends, and people running blind through them. Yuna stood up and ran towards the walkway, which was flooded with fiends. In unison Steve, Kimahri and I ran down and formed a loose circle around her, drawing blades to fight back the fiends. A massive birdlike fiend soared over us, sending a powerful gust of wind. As it turned back to fly over us again Steve took action. He ran towards it as it had just took off, and jumped directly in front of it, grabbing onto its head on the way up, making it fly higher into the air, then jumped off as it smashed into the roof of the stadium. On his return to our floor he saw another Garuda and ripped his sword through its head, sending an explosion of pyreflies upwards. He landed next to me just in time to swing his sword around his back and kill a fiend running at him.

When we met up with Tidus and Wakka we were met by another, Auron. He impressively killed a fiend with a single downward slash. After fighting off many waves of fiends Seymour Guado decided to finally step in. He called forth an immense being, an aeon of amazing power, and used it to decimate the fiends in the stadium. Something about him just gave me a bad feeling.

"Wow," Yuna said, "his aeon was so powerful."

We left to be outside the stadium but Steve stopped me. "You know Ian," he said, in a serious tone, "maybe we should offer our services to Yuna."

"What services?" I asked sarcastically.

"We should offer to become her guardians," he said.

"Why?"

"Because she needs them, her job is important, and she deserves the best," he said, trying to compliment me into it.

"No"

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Go on," he said.

"Because," I began, before stopping to think, "I'm tired of fighting"

"Hah, you pulled that pretty far out your ass," he said, seeing through my lie.

"Maybe I just don't want to," I honestly admitted, "I just want to go home, and live."

"Live?" he asked, "What have you been doing the past fifteen years? Dreaming? This is your live, and you should do something of meaning, and becoming a guardian can help not only the summoner, but all of Spira. You are so selfish." That verbal assault was what flicked the switch.

"I'm selfish?" I asked sarcastically, "You expect me to do this for what, to escort Yuna ultimately to her death?" He had no answer, nothing to justify this, becoming a guardian to Yuna would have the same effect as not becoming her guardian, and Steve knew this.

"Well," he said, drifting away from the conversation, "At least this way her death won't be in vain." I had no response that I could live with saying, if i walked away, that means she could die for nothing, so I must stay.

"Fine, I will offer my services," I reluctantly say, "Its better to for her to die bringing the Calm than to die in vain."

"We are about to leave," I heard from Yuna, who was walking back into the stadium where we were still talking. As she turned around to leave Steve nodded at me.

"Wait," I said, stopping her, as she turned around, I began again, "I wish to offer our services as your guardian."

"Of course," she said happily, "Oh, let me ask Auron." We followed her out and she walked directly to Auron, "Sir Auron," she began, "Um, I would like for Ian and Stephen, to be my guardians." Auron walked over to me and Steve and look at me, then at him.

"I see no problem," he said, turning back to Yuna, "Let us be on our way."

So we left, Yuna and her six guardians, to face her inevitable death.

Theres chapter 6, please leave a review I'm very appreciative of critism.


	7. The Highroad

The Warriors

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX, and most likely never will.

Please review, If you have any suggestions please tell me, I would like to know how to improve my next chapters.

The walk down the Mi'hen highroad was almost completely silent. I walked behind the group, just within earshot, I still cant trust them, I have no idea why, they just feel to nice. Steve dropped back after a while to convince me to join them ahead. "Why?" I asked, "am I going to get interrogated?"

"Why do you always assume the worst Ian?" he asked, slowing down.

"I don't assume the worst," I said turning to face him behind me, "I am just asking."

"Fine, I promise we won't interrogate you," he said honestly, "so will you join us?"

"Sure"

We walked back up in double time to rejoin the rest, but just as we caught up the party of eight suddenly stopped. Yuna was met by a little girl, who asked her if she was going to bring the Calm. I saw Yuna, she somehow stayed composed, after being asked if she was going to kill herself, she was so strong.

The rest of the road was quiet, Yuna and Tidus conversed quietly, Lulu and Wakka did the same until we reached a stop. We entered an inn to be greeted very politely by an Al Bhed man.

"Sir Auron," he said as we spread throughout the room.

"Yes?" Auron responded

"I cannot thank you enough," he said walking right up to Auron.

"It was no problem," Auron said. Then the Al Bhed man bowed lightly to him and left the building. Everyone seemed to ask him what that was about but he just replied with his usual "nothing". I left the with everyone else, but turned away from everyone else. I walked to the end off a large cliff, leading to an ocean, and stood on the farthest corner possible without falling. I pulled my legs out from under me and landed hard on the ground, landing with just enough of my body on land to not fall. I watched the sun set over the ocean, turning it a brilliant orange for a few minutes. There were two suns, and after a while none, but still a light could be seen, turning the clouds all colors imaginable. I laid down on my back, my legs still drooped over the cliff, crossing my arms behind my head. My eyes felt heavy, but my body wasn't tired and as I closed my eyes I felt a presence arrive.

"Hello," I heard a soft womans voice, knowing instantly it was Yuna.

"Hi," I said, not wanting to talk.

"So," she said, obviously struck for words, "Um our last conversation was cut short."

"Yeah?"

"Well I would like to learn a little more about you."

"Ok."

"Um, well, why did you decide to become my guardian?"

"I dunno," I said not knowing the answer, "I guess because you deserve the best guardian ever."

"Hahaha," she laughed, it was nice to hear that, "Well I have to thank you again, thank you so much."

"Yeah."

"Do you always talk like that?"

"Like what?"

"You always give the shortest answer possible."

"That a problem?" I asked jokingly.

"Oh no," she said much too apologetically, "It's just..."

"Just...?"

"I don't know, it's," she paused, obviously looking for a non insulting word, "Unique" she fished out.

"You mean annoying right?"

"Of course not"

"You can be honest with me Yuna," I said standing to finally looking at her.

"Its just that, you don't really answer my questions, and you make it hard to get to know you."

"Ok, I shall be more thorough then."

"Thank you," she said apparently awaiting an acknowledgment, "So-"

"Yuna!" Wakka yelled from afar, "It's getting dark ya, let's go inside and get some rest."

"Ok!" she yelled back, she turned to me, "Well, I will speak with you again later," then she ran off.

"Ok," I said just loud enough for me to hear. I fell back down to the ground, landing on my back, and watched the sky change from an orange and pink hue, to pitch black with white dots. It was cold, colder than you would think it would be in such a hot place. I watched the sky until I saw no light, I soon fell asleep.

Sunlight woke me up, that and the massive hand coming at me, springing me into action. I rolled just out of the way before the hand crushed me, I reached for my sword, but couldn't find it, and was forced to fight this massive fiend with no help. It again swung its arms at me, to fast to dodge, I brace my arms against my chest waiting impact, and left the ground when it smashed into me. A wall stopped my flight, and as soon as I recovered I saw the fiend rushing me again, but this time I could react. It's massive arms flew at me, but I jumped above them before they connected. The wall it hit collapsed, and many now riled up chocobos ran out in a panic. A woman from the inn came out and saw the utter chaos and let out a loud yell, getting the fiends attention. It turned to her and charged, she screamed for help, and I sprinted to her. As I met the fiend I tackled it with all of my might, knocking it away from her. It once again turned its attention to me, and raced at me. As I dodged it's attacks I saw my sword on the ground about 100 feet away and made my move, I pulled a small dagger from my shoulder armor and stabbed the fiend in the eye. I rushed toward my sword and the fiend closed the gap between us. As it came within arm's reach I dove and rolled, and in one liquid move grabbed my sword, ripped it from the scabbard, and rolling back onto my feet, turning and stabbing the fiend. The others finally came out of the inn, just in time to help me when I finally had the upped hand. Yuna called forth the Valefor, which spit a bright yellow beam at the fiend, finally killing it. It exploded, sending pyreflies into the sky. I chuckled and returned my sword into it's scabbard.

"Are you ok?" Tidus and Yuna seemed to ask in unison.

"Yeah," I said smoothly fixing my hair, "Good thing you came when you did," I joked, "And i just grabbed my sword." After that the same Al Bhed man that owned the inn came out.

"You killed it, that fiend has been killing my chocobos and eating them, I cannot thank you enough. Here, you may ride my chocobos for free down the mountain as payment." After Yuna gave many undue thanks to him we finally departed down the long road. We finally reached the bottom and were stopped from continuing by a dozen armed troops. No one is allowed to pass, they said.

"Now what?" Tidus asked.

"We could force our way through," I said seriously, "They don't look so tough."

"No," Auron said, "Starting a war is all that would accomplish."

There are many strange instances in the world, many 1 in 100 chances, but when Seymour came walking by I could calculate that probability. He approached Yuna and said something, then walked up to the armed guards and said something, something the guards protested to. I began to walk up to them and heard from the Maester "I will take full responsibility." He turned back to us and announced, "You may all pass." He seemed to turn to Yuna, smile and turn back and walk up the path. I had a bad feeling about him, something indescribable. But we soon followed, walking up the steep dirt path. The road there wasn't built conventionally, or easily walkable, it had bumps and turns and sudden holes, just looking at it I though it would break. But fortunately under the combined weight of Kimahri, Auron, Wakka, Tidus, Stephen, and myself the most hollow regions didn't break. We went up a series of elevators and finally reached the summit where we ran into Maester Kinoc. He told us about Operation Mi'hen, an attempt to rid the world of Sin once and for all.

"It will never works," Auron was the first to speak out, "Only a summoner can kill Sin." Still Maester Kinoc asked us to help, which Tidus decided was a good idea.

We waited for a while, then approached Kinoc, he asked if we were ready and we replied yes.

Thats Chapter 7, Chapter 8 will come by real soon, please comment, I would like to know how to improve my future chapters.


	8. Operation Mi'hen

The Warriors

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX, and most likely never will.

Please review, If you have any suggestions please tell me, I would like to know how to improve my next chapters.

I walked across the mountain path, seeing around a corner that encased in massive cages, were several Sinspawn. After getting even closer I saw that there was an empty one with a door missing, and the door to it was on the ground in front of us, the Sinspawn had escaped. Before we could alert the Crusaders around the turn, it attacked. It jumped down from its perch above us and I dove and pulled Yuna and Tidus out of the way before it landed on them. It was huge, it had legs like an insect, but its long neck rose up more than twenty feet, showing an oddly shaped head, it raised it's huge arms as if it was challenging us. I turned to Stephen about 20 feet way and yelled, "Steve!" gaining his attention, he mouthed something to me and nodded and we rush the Sinspawn. As we drew out blades we caught the massive creatures attention, his head moved eerily and a bolt of lightning came down aimed at me. I rose my sword to catch the bolt with its blade, but it struck me before I could block, as it struck me painfully, I saw a bolt directed a Stephen, but he managed to seemingly cut the bolt in half, splitting it away from him. We circled the Sinspawn, confusing it, and when its back was turned to both of us we attacked in unison, Stephen cut off its left arm, and leaped onto its shoulders and lunged my sword into it's head. I jumped down next to Steve on the ground and was caught completely off guard to the fiends next attach, it turned, smashing us both with its remaining arm, sending us into the air and to the raised cliff behind us. I forced my body around backwards, and hit the cliff feet first, hard, then forcing myself back at the fiend. As I reached the Sinspawn's body I swung, but it blocked my sword with it's arm. I had almost forgot that it wasn't just me and Stephen fighting until Auron rushed the fiend, followed closely by Kimahri and Tidus. Auron and Kimahri attacked the arm and it fell off and Tidus swung at his body, and hit it hard, making the fiend let out a yelp of pain.

After the group ran over to where I was standing another cage broke open, letting lose a truly frightening Sinspawn, at least twenty five feet tall with a massive torso, it ran faster than anything I had ever seen on two legs and opened it's beak showing row after row of pointed teeth. Not thinking I ran in front of Yuna, and dropped into a defensive stance. As it neared I yelled to everyone, "I'll take care of this beast, you focus on this one," getting a few nods of approval. When the two Sinspawn were next to each other I made my move, grabbing my sword with both hands I rushed the two legged fiend, it shrieked horribly and ran at me. Just as it could reach out and hit me I dove into it, sticking my sword midway up it's chest, not even slowing it. I was hanging by the hilt of my sword, trying to swing my legs so I could get on top of it. Unfortunately it decided to make my life more difficult, and ran straight at Yuna, who even though she was far away, the gap would be closed to soon. I turned my wrists up, pulling my entire body up, and ripped the blade from its chest and stabbed it into the neck of the fiend before I fell, then with all my strength I pulled down on the sword. The Sinspawn was forced to take a hard turn away from the defenseless Yuna and I got on the fiend's back and lopped it's head off, killing it instantly. I dropped to the ground, falling through pyreflies, landing awkwardly on a small hill. As I turned to find Stephen I saw him finish off the final Sinspawn, and I ran to regroup.

I was about one hundred yard away when Sin came into sight on the ocean. The Al Bhed Machina laser sprung into action, firing at the invincible, and Yevon's cannons did the same. I kept running toward Yuna, but kept my head turned to see the action. Sin was hit, but soon after it put up a transparent shield, it spread out, and nothing could penetrate it. As the Al Bhed fired more powerful shots at Sin, the shield seemed to fluctuate, stopping momentarily, then firing out. As the shield reached the shore, all the soldiers there weren't killed, they were vaporised, disappearing instantly. The shied closed in on the Al Bhed laser and as soon as the shield overpowered the laser, the machina exploded violently. The ground shook, but I still ran, and as the explosion neared I finally reached Yuna.

"Ian!" she screamed as the blast reached, I got between her and the blast, and spread my arms, protecting her as best as possible. The lights faded, and I felt hitting the ground and saw and heard nothing. I don't know how long I was laying there before I regained consciousness, but I was finally awakened by the muted cries of Yuna and opened my eyes to see her on top of me with Auron and Seymour. My vision was blurry but I swear I saw him smirk, as soon as I could process this I knew he was going to interfere with Yuna's pilgrimage. I stood up on my own, and felt odd, not in pain, not weak, it was indescribable, it was as if I felt stronger. As I turned to Yuna to thank her I saw the presumably dead Sinspawn about to attack. Instinctively I pulled my blade, but now it seemed to explode as I drew it, I looked at it and I didn't recognize it, it was black as night and the fragments of white on it seemed to move. After remembering the Sinspawn about to attack I jumped to meet it. It's arms closed in on its chest, but still I swung, but now the blade cut clean through, and as I swung again a stream of light shot from the tip of the sword and cut through the fiend, killing it. I turned back to look at my sword, only to see that it returned to it's normal state. "Are you alright?" Yuna asked, pulling me from my daze.

"Yeah," I said, "I'm fine." After Stephen, Lulu, and Wakka came over, we left to go find Tidus. We found him on the beach, decimated by the blast, he seemed to be the only living person on the beach. As we were all finally together we left for Djose temple. The road was long, and littered with the dead and near dead soldiers. Moans filled the air as we walked by relatively unharmed by the incident. As we got farther up the sound of pain left the air and we eventually arrived at the temple seeing only a rocky mountain. "So," I began to ask, seeing no entrance into the Djose temple, "how do we get in?"

"Another summoner is inside," Yuna said, "we can get in when they exit the Cloister."

"So what do we do until then?" Tidus asks, looking at Yuna.

"We wait patiently until the summoner leaves," Lulu answered.

"How long will that be?" Tidus asks, putting his hands behind his head.

"It will be as long as it takes bruddha," Wakka says, adding, "just be patient." This answer obviously didn't satisfy Tidus, who began to pace around. Yuna walked up closer to the temple and dropped to her knees and prayed. Upon seeing this Tidus walked up next to her and joined in. As they prayed I walked up to Stephen and Auron, deciding to be more sociable.

"That was an impressive move," Auron said to Stephen, recalling the battle with the large Sinspawn, "and you Ian, killing that beast alone was amazing." This caught me by surprise, I wasn't used to getting complimented, and it felt good to finally earn recognition.

"Thank you," I said happily, "and you did a fine job helping Steve kill the other Sinspawn." Auron was about to say something, but the mountain containing the temple seemed to explode, and the door was revealed.

"Come then," Auron said, "let us go." We all walked to the temple following Yuna and Tidus, who were talking, laughing. The doors slammed behind us as I walked in and 2 men and a young boy walked down the steps, he introduced himself as Isaaru, and his 2 guardians, Pacce and Maroda. Yuna and him graciously wished each other luck before he left, and we went into the Cloister of Trials.

When the doors shut behind us in the Cloister, Tidus said he'd open then way. Stephen, Yuna, and I stayed back and leaned against the walls near the exit. As everyone else left to go work on the puzzle Yuna turned to me, "I never got to thank you for saving me on the Mi'hen Highroad," she said earnestly.

"Oh, yeah, it was no problem," I said, not fully believing myself.

"But it was," she said, "you could have died, more than once, you risked your life and if you hadn't I would be dead now."

"That is the job of a guardian," Stephen said reassuringly, "every one of us would have done the same."

"Well yes, but just seeing those creatures petrified me, especially the second Sinspawn, it was horrific, and we were already fighting another one, I was terrified, and Ian," she said, "you faced it without any fear, and for that I thank you."

"Yuna, it was no problem," I say slightly irked, "I am your guardian, and your life is more important than mine."

"Please don't say that," Yuna said angrily, "No one is more important than anyone else."

"Haha, I wish we could all live in the ideal world your in, you bring hope and joy to everyone, you matter more than me, and everyone else."

"No, your wrong," Yuna argued with a fire in her eyes, "everyone in this world is equal, and deserves all the same rights, no one is better than anyone else."

"Well how do you explain Maesters, they control us all?" I asked not expecting an answer.

"They lead us," Yuna answers, "they are our leaders who we chose to protect us."

"This isn't the utopia you believe it to be Yuna, there is more at work, people aren't all treated equally. If it was I might have had a normal childhood, but instead I was forced through hell."

"Ian!" Stephen interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Yuna asked. I hadn't realized what I had said until she stopped me, and I knew instantly I said to much.

"Nothing." I didn't talk the rest of the time we were in the Cloister, I spent my time breathing deeply and trying to calm down. We left the temple to sleep at the inn adjacent. I couldn't sleep, I would often awaken to nightmares from the past, moments I try hard to forget, but never can. I left the inn to lay down outside next to the inn, staring into the sky, trying to remember the constellations that my grandmother showed me when I was a young boy. I must have been watching the stars fore an hour before I heard someone else, but as I turned to look, it wasn't who I though it was.

"Hey," Tidus said, sitting down next to me, "What ya looking at?"

"Orion, the hunter," I answered vaguely.

"Oh, I don't see anyone, where is he?" he asked.

"It's not a real person," I said, "It's a constellation."

"What's that?" he asks intrigued.

"It's a formation of stars, that just happens to look like something, see Orion," I say pointing to it, "There's its belt, its three very bright stars."

"Oh, I see it," he said.

"But you didn't come out here to talk about the stars did you?" I guess with accuracy.

"Hah, no I didn't," he admitted, "I had to ask about what you said to Yuna, she seemed pretty shook up about it."

"So you stayed up for hours on end, assuming that I would come out here, and risked losing out on sleep that we could have not have for days by doing so?"

"Um, yeah," he responded.

"Haha, you must really love Yuna," I say jokingly.

"What, I never said that," he said defensively. After he responded I decided to prod at the subject a little more.

"I think you do, I see the way you look at her, she is beautiful, and she seems to like you."

"Ya think so?" He asked rhetorically, "I don't think it matters though, Lulu and Wakka don't seem to approve of me liking her."

"So? Whats the worst that could happen?"

"I don't know, but I don't think it could work out anyway."

"You'll never know till it happens," I say.

"Yeah, I guess," he says taking a break to think, "so, what did you say to Yuna?"

"Bedtime." I say standing up and walking back to the inn.

"Bedtime?"

"Yes, I am tired, and I am going to go to sleep." He tried to stop me, but I ignored him and went to bed. The rest of my night was sleepless, I laid on my back and stared at the ceiling until dawn. As the sun peered through the crescent shaped windows I got up and left the inn. I stretched my arms as I exited and was followed by several of my party. Lulu and Wakka just left the inn, while Kimahri was standing near the temple. A few minutes later Stephen and Auron emerged from the inn.

"Sleep well?" Stephen asked me, obviously knowing the answer.

"Like a baby."

"Haha, I'm sure of that," he laughed. Tidus exited the inn and walked up to Stephen and I, and yawned loudly. We waited for Yuna, who arrived soon after, she emerged from the temple, looking tired and unkempt, her hair a mess, and her clothes crooked. She looked at us, then seemed to panic.

"Ah, what time is it, is the sun up already? Oh no," she apologized repeatedly, "I'm so sorry, I'm sorry."

"It's okay Yuna," Tidus said reassuringly.

"Sir Auron," she said putting her head down, "I am so sorry."

"It is okay," he said, "we can wait to leave until Lady Yuna fixes her hair," he jokes, getting laughs from everyone, myself included.

"Oh, your all so mean to me," Yuna jokes playfully. We leave soon after, back down the road, where now the survivors are lined up near the temple, it was depressing, seeing them, many would never walk again, never fight, they sacrificed themselves for nothing. We turned away from all the carnage to head for the Moonflow. It was a long walk, and we ran into some familiar faces.

"Puny Ronso Kimahri cannot protect Yuna," Biran said, "and soon Yuna will be gone." Biran and Yenke told us about the strange string of summoner kidnappings. We continued on the pass and ran into a massive, strange beast.

"Ah, what is that thing?" Tidus asks surprised after seeing the huge four legged blue beast.

"A Shoopuf," Auron answered, "Hah, when we were Braska's guardians your father was drunk, and though it was a fiend, and attacked it. We offered all the money we had as an apology, Jecht never drank again after that."

"Yeah," Tidus said, "That does sound like my dad."

"Yes, but it appears that the same Shoopuf is still working here." We walked up to the dock were some of the soldiers on Chocobos were trying to convince the Shoopuf driver to take them across.

"No," he said, "Chocobos no go on Shoopuf, the to big."

"Well how are we supposed to cross?" one of the Chocobo riders asked. She turned to Tidus, "Don't you think we should be allowed to cross?"

"Well, um," he responded nervously, "they are really big."

"Come," another one said, "We shall find a spot shallow enough to cross on foot." The Chocobo riders left down stream and we walked toward the dry dock. Yuna was swarmed with fans, and well wishers, it made me nervous, I don't know why, but seeing her that carefree made me feel uneasy. As Yuna left to walk underneath a pagoda, Stephen and I sat on the brick dock, facing the opposite side of the river.

"I got a bad feeling," I break the silence, "Something just, doesn't feel right." 

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"I don't know, its just this instinct I have, I feel like something bad is about to happen."

"Hmm," he sighed, "Make sure to be on guard, especially now after that premonition."

"Right." We later on in the day embarked on the Shoopuf, I kept my hand on my sword, just in case. Wakka told us of a city on the bottom of this lake, it had sunk because it was to heavy, the moral of the story: just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

"When I was a little girl," Yuna said, "I rode the Shoopuf, and I fell off, and it picked me up with it's long nose."

"Kimahri was in Shoopuf with Yuna," Kimahri said, as he rarely did, "she jumped out six more times." Everyone laughed, but something struck me, I turned to Yuna smiling, then saw someone pull her away. The Al Bhed had kidnapped her.

Thats Chapter 8, Please Review, I would like to know how to improve my future chapters.


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